Babies....

These few days I am educated on child-birth and baby related stuff because my colleague is giving birth soon. There are a lot of talks about pregnancy and babies in the office ;-) I learn a lot of things not just in the area of my work but the REAL stuff..hehe..!! It's interesting and funny to hear stories from the mothers on how they coped with the new-born and the advice they gave to my colleague, the first time mother.

It's a gift from God to have a child ;-)

When I say I'm a Christian

I like this poem that CK posted on his blog.

Tough but fruitful

Yesterday was a 'tough' day for me. I had lunch with my mother and I wanted to share Christ with her. It's not easy sharing Christ with her because she can be quite hard-headed. She pointed out a few areas in my life that she is not very pleased with. I was a bit affected after talking to her. As I reflected upon my own life, I am glad that we can such open communication though it hurts but I think we as Christians must really live a consistent life that reflect the love of Christ. Like what pastor always said people do not care how much you know but how much you care. To love is tough but with God all things are possible.

He who listens to a life-giving rebuke will be at home among the wise.
He who ignores discipline despises himself, but whoever heeds correction gains understanding.
The fear of the LORD teaches a man wisdom, and humility comes before honor.

- Proverbs 15:31-33

After lunch, I went to the library to return a book then took a cab to Lion Befriender for briefing on volunteering. Our caregroup wants to do community work together once a month as a start. We will explore whether this program is what we can commit to.

In this briefing, Siti, the executive, gave an overview of who and what Lion Befriender does for the elderly community in Singapore. Mr Tay shared the fundamentals of understanding and communicating with the elderly. These are the gist of what he shared:

• Ageing is a development process that all of us will go through in life.
• To manage aging process holistically, we need to understand how the biology, psychology and sociology part of us interact with the outside world.
• Communication is the giving and receiving of information. Be personal. Allow for feeling. Don't judge. Be tolerant. Be positive. Encourage self-determination. Be open to communicate in different ways.

After the briefing, I took a cab again to Harbour Front to meet a few people from my caregroup to go to Sentosa to enjoy the "Jazz by the Beach". Managed to catch up with a few friends ;-)

Online sermons

I like "Let my people think" online sermons by Ravi Zacharias.

A friend shared with me online sermons by Church of our Saviour. The sermons are pretty good.

Strange sightings...and sweet surprise!

Today is a happening day!!

I accepted a job offer today. Praise the Lord!

When I was out in the afternoon, I noticed a man with some strange things dangling from his bag. I was disgusted when I knew what they were. It was the first time that I saw man using them as key chains. He and his friends kept staring at a girl. I think the girl observed their stare. They left the station together with the girl. I prayed for the girl's safety.

Another strange sighting. I saw a tall boy or teenager in school uniform. He is so tall that he needs to bend his head to exit the train. Being too tall has its inconvenience too!!

I received a surprise email from a Czech friend that I knew in Prague. She shared with me her wedding photos taken one month ago. She is a Christian whom I met at KFC when I was in Prague for the Europe Church Camp. Earlier she even wrote me a testimony of how she met her husband. Wow!! It's amazing how God bring people together and how He led us to know each other in a faraway land at KFC.

Pigs and Puccini

From 200 B.C to the fall of Rome, the Chinese and Roman empires were the world's two great civilizations. They knew each other only from afar. Marco Polo bridged the gap in the 13th century, but when he published his Travels in 1299, many Italians found his descriptions of China too weird to be true. Pity: the Chinese and Italians have much in common.

Noodle Nations

The discovery of 4,000-year old spaghetti in northwestern China this year probably closes the centuries-old debate on which culture invented noodles. But Italy gets credit for adding parmesan.

They love their mothers!

In both countries, a mother is a boy's best friend--even when the boys are in their 40s.

They love their pigs, too!

Italians and Chinese have long known how to eat everything in a pig but the squeak. And if Europeans think that Parma or San Daniele defines hog heaven, they haven't tried a Yunnan ham. Chinese salami, alas, needs some help.

It's not over until...

The most enduring operas in the world are Italian and Chinese. China's got the better makeup, Italy the more hummable tunes. Crossover moment: Turandot.

Extracted from Newsweek.

Soul-winner's heart

Yesterday a few of us from CG went to Church of our Saviour to listen to the preaching by Daniel Allbritton, an American preacher, on "Soul-winner's heart".

He shared from Luke 16:19-31. He described the rift between heaven and hell. It is not the financial status and reputation on earth or even a regular church goer but no public confession of his or her fatith in Christ will guarantee the ticket to heaven. It is our personal and public confession of our faith in Jesus Christ that will seal our fate in heaven.

What moved me were the stories he told about this American preacher who one day heard a loud cry from the room of his daughter. He ran to her room to check out what happened to her.

Her daughter said,"Daddy, I was at the gate of hell and I saw many people who are suffering there."

The preacher said,"It is just a bad dream. Don't be troubled by it."

The daughter said," But daddy, it is real. I saw many people and I saw grandpa too. He is calling out to me and he is in real pain." His daughter described the scene in hell and what his grandfather said to her.

Tears rolled down the eyes of the preacher's eyes. He recalled that his father was a regular in church but he never made a public confession of his faith.

The preacher never asked his father whether he is saved and he lost his father in hell to suffer. He went his father's grave and laid there for 8 days grieving and crying out to God. He told God, "Make me a soul-winner." His life was changed forever since that day.

I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. - Matthew 16:19

For non-Christian (or even those who think you are Christian), do you know what is our motivation to share the gospel? We have an appointment that we will never miss that is death. No matter how rich, poor we are, we will not miss this appointment. We will not know when we will die in what way and where.

Do you know where you will go after your death? Heaven or hell? It's your personal choice and the choice that you make will determine your eternal destiny.

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. - John 3:16

God loves us that's why He sent His son Jesus Christ to die on the cross for our sins. If we acknowledge and accept Him as our personal Lord and saviour, we can experience a new and abundant life on earth and in time to come in heaven.

Being a Christian is not a spoilt-sport. It's not boring to be a Christian like what many people think. Come and experience it yourself and you will know ;-)

Or as Christians, are we motivated to share the gospel to win people for Christ? We need to get out of our comfort zone and share the gospel to our family and friends.

God gives everyone a choice to make: Heaven or hell. Make the right choice!!

Ai Pei also wrote a post about this preaching.

Looking outward in the same direction

I saw this quote from one of my friends' blog which I think is meaningful and true ;-)

Life has taught us that love does not consist in gazing at each other but in looking outward together in the same direction.

The battles belongs to the Lord!!

Jon asked me yesterday why I have not blogged for a long time..so these are some of the reasons ;p It has been a busy and tiring week for me. I did a freelance web design, did part-time at a government agency and attended a wedding...and many other stuff.

A strange thing happened to me yesterday at 4am. I woke up and these words, "The battle belongs to the Lord!" were ringing in my mind. I was tired but alert. I just spent the next 30min-1hour praying for myself and everyone in my caregroup. I have been pretty tired lately I have been asking God to strengthen me so that I can minister and care for the people in my caregroup. I remember what Pastor Simon Eng said during the Europe church camp at Prague last year. He said the spirit within us must be stronger than the spirit of this world. I want to claim on God's promises for our lives. To reclaim all God's blessings for our lives and not to live in the devil's lies. After the prayer, I went back to sleep!!

I had a long day yesterday. After service, we had guitar lesson. I am now learning open chords. Still need to work on my strumming ;p Jay is pretty good. He can catch what Albert is playing pretty well ;-)

After guitar, I accompanied Anne to Hope membership orientation class to understand more about Hope Church Singapore. A good refresher for me but after that session I was dead tired.

As usual, I will log on to internet when I am home. I chatted with a few friends online and I shared about God and His love to this long time friend of mine from France. We had a good long chat!! I pray and hope that he will experience God personally in his life.

God is good all the time!!

Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. - 2 Cor 3:17

..for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world? Only he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God. - 1 John 5:4-5

They will fight against you but will not overcome you, for I am with you and will rescue you," declares the LORD. - Jer 1:19